Hybrid Nanofiber-Based Atmospheric Water Harvesters: Sunlight-Driven Operation in Low-Humidity and Low-Illumination Environments
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A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
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en
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11
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ACS Nano, Volume 19, issue 22, pp. 20881-20891
Abstract
Aerogels incorporating hygroscopic salts have been widely explored for atmospheric water harvesting (AWH). However, the scalability of these sorbents remains limited due to their reliance on energy-intensive and time-consuming drying methods such as lyophilization or supercritical drying. Here, we present a simple and scalable approach to drying hydrogels with desirable AWH properties using a freezing process followed by solvent exchange and thawing at room temperature. Our system consists of cellulose and silica nanofibers, forming hybrid xerogels with ultralow density (10.86 ± 0.32 mg cm-3), high specific surface area (104.22 m2 g-1), excellent water stability, and mechanical strength. By incorporating carbon-based photothermal materials and lithium chloride as a hygroscopic salt, the xerogels achieve exceptional water uptake capacities ranging from 0.90 to 3.21 g g-1 across a relative humidity (RH) range from 15 to 75%. Under natural sunlight, the AWH xerogel produces water at a rate of 1.17 g g-1 day-1. These results highlight a sustainable and scalable AWH strategy, leveraging ambient-dried xerogels as an energy-efficient solution to mitigate water scarcity.Description
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 American Chemical Society.
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Hu, Y, Chen, Y, Xu, J, Cheng, W, Lu, Y, Han, G & Rojas, O J 2025, 'Hybrid Nanofiber-Based Atmospheric Water Harvesters: Sunlight-Driven Operation in Low-Humidity and Low-Illumination Environments', ACS Nano, vol. 19, no. 22, pp. 20881-20891. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.5c03322